“He just has this insatiable appetite to have success,” said Spears, who now works at ESPN. “I tell him this all the time when we talk. ‘Dude’s that have the type of success that you have have to be crazy. You’ve got to be a little bit crazy.

“To continue to be able to day in and day out stay in with that same type of focus. Understand the goal. Understand where you’re trying to go. That’s why not everybody can do it. That’s why you don’t have a bunch of Bill Belichick’s, John Wooden’s and Nick Saban’s. Because not everybody can take that same approach every single day. He’s figured out a way to master that.”

Under Saban, Alabama hasn’t lost three games in a season since 2010, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen this year. The Crimson Tide are 49-4 in the last five seasons. Each of the last four years, they played in the national championship game every season and won two titles.

Saban has won five national championships at Alabama, and he also captured one while at LSU. He is tied with Bear Bryant for the most national titles in FBS history.